1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to article carrying apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, various types of article carrying apparatuses for lining up articles, such as bulk components, in rows while carrying them, and supplying the articles one at a time have been proposed. Such article carrying apparatuses are generally called “feeders,” and various types of feeders exist, including vibration- and belt-type feeders, although vibration-type feeders are the most common. A vibration-type feeder is an apparatus for carrying an article placed on a carry section, which vibrates, by utilizing for example the phenomenon of relative sliding of the article with respect to the carry section.
One example of such a vibration-type feeder is a rotary feeder that carries articles along a circumferential direction. This rotary feeder, for example, has, on its input shaft, a first cam that causes the carry section to oscillate in the circumferential direction and a second cam that causes the carry section to perform reciprocating motion in the vertical direction, and when the input shaft rotates, the carry section is caused to perform oscillating motion in the circumferential direction by the first cam and to perform linear motion in the vertical direction by the second cam. At this time, the articles are made to moved in the carrying direction by causing the carry section to oscillate at a uniform velocity in the direction in which the articles are carried, and by changing the movement of the carry section in the vertical direction from downward movement to upward movement so that the friction between the article and the carry section is increased. On the other hand, when the carry section moves in the reverse direction of the carrying direction of the articles, the carry section is accelerated and decelerated rapidly in the reverse direction, and the movement of the carry section in the vertical direction is changed from upward movement to downward movement so that the friction between the article and the carry section is reduced, and thus the articles are caused to slide over the carry section (see, JP 2003-40423A, for example).
In the conventional rotary feeder described above, carrying of the articles is achieved by vibrating the carry section. Consequently, the vibration of the carry section is also transmitted to a housing via a cam mechanism, which is a driving section for vibrating the carry section. That is, even when the rotary feeder itself has the ability to carry the articles properly, there is a risk that the articles may not be carried properly because the housing vibrates. For example, when the rotary feeder is placed on a table or the like having low rigidity, the vibration transmitted to the housing is amplified by the table and causes the rotary feeder itself placed thereon to vibrate significantly, and thus there is a risk that the articles may not be carried properly. Moreover, there also is a risk that noise may occur because of vibration of the table or the housing.